Treasures Secured

Memories, like fleeting birds, depart.  The task: to retrieve quickly and hold in the heart-hand.

Surely in 1901 the NDA community considered their new chapel built behind  the school building to be a great treasure.  New, beautiful in its décor—the white wooden altars, lovely statues, large stations in deep relief,  the stained glass windows,

and quite notably, a front wall above the altars, filled with murals painted, the story goes, by Sr. Maria Casimira and her team of Sister artists.  Sister’s work appeared on the ceiling also—four Evangelists done in oil on canvas, 36” in diameter, and, as far as blogger can determine, located at the four corners of the ceiling.  While some of the murals were lost in subsequent renovations, the murals directly above the side altars and the Evangelists on the ceiling were mercifully preserved.   Above the side altars: the Sacred Heart statue was on the left altar (not usual, as you may be aware) so the mural above it depicted Jesus, kneeling in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane; the right altar with its statue of Mary was below a depiction of the Annunciation.  It is not known if these murals as well as the ones removed earlier in the sanctuary apse were frescoes (water color paintings on wet plaster) or simple paintings.

Since the Evangelists were on canvas roundels (circles), they had been glued to the ceiling.  Upon being removed, they were stored and subsequently brought to Hilton Dr. in 1963.  They remained in general storage until the archives was organized.  Currently the paintings are among the most treasured of the holdings in the archives.  The archivist took them to the Cincinnati Art Museum a few years ago to see if the preservationist there thought they were worthy of restoring—they are.

One can determine which of the Evangelists is which by the symbol appearing next to each: Matthew, a winged man—the Gospel begins with a genealogy of Jesus; Mark, a lion—the Gospel begins with John the Baptist, a lion roaring in the desert; Luke, an ox—the Gospel begins with Zachary offering sacrifice in the temple; John, an eagle—flying so high it can look at the sun (this Gospel is very lofty).  There are many interpretations of the symbols (Wikipedia), but these may be the most common.

Efforts to find out any more about the supposed creator, Sr. Maria Casimira have proven fruitless.  We do know that she came from Germany in 1877 during the Kulturkampf (the SNDs left Germany rather than give up wearing the religious garb as required by law).  According to her obituary she was a very humble person who did not mention anything about her artistic endeavors in her short autobiography.  Oh Sister, how could you leave us in the dark about what must have been an arduous but satisfying accomplishment? The NDA archivist wants to have a few words with you when she meets you in eternity. 

In Case You Haven't Heard

So what kinds of displays are put into the display case in the foyer?  Here’s the current specimen. 

"Time to renew a warm spot for Christ who is born in us daily," it says.  So what's the tree about?  Well, it's an...
(the Latin identification for the Warm Spot tree belonging to the genus caring.)  (A little poetic liberty taken here.)

The tree limb has cards that demonstrate the actions that will provide a “warm spot” that the poster urges, to wit: “smiling at the unpleasant person,” “feeding the hungry person,” (the students have accomplished this recently with a 14,000 cans collected), “listening/talking to the lonely person,” and so on. 

The case also holds the traditional NDA Advent prayer which you may recognize

Have a blessed Advent, Reader, one filled with reminders of the Christ who is born in us daily.

                        And of course a very, very blessed Christmas!

Symbols Signal Substance

We all see so many symbols everyday: a large shell designating an oil station; an oval with a skyline on it; skull and crossbones; a big boy image holding a sandwich; and so on.  Here at NDA we are surrounded by symbols, some intended to elevate our thoughts, some to educate, some to entertain.  Below are some of the symbols we see around here.

As you enter the building, you see the lily (signifying the purity of Mary’s dedication to God) on the large stone marker, and when you walk through the foyer, you see the same symbol in the pillar behind Mary’s statue (notice it next time).

In Alumnae Hall is the shield of the Sisters of Notre Dame abounding in symbols: the surmounting cross; the dove (Holy Spirit); the star (Mary) above the waves of life’s ocean; the eagle (closeness to God, but also signifying German origins); the lion rampant (the influence of the French St. Julie Billiart ); and the lily.

Down to chapel to view a plethora (to use a suddenly popular word) of symbols, we dip our fingers into the holy water fonts, and behold the symbols.  On one side of the doors is the dove; on the other side we see the Chi-Rho linked to the anchor (Christ, our anchor of hope) and the fish (from the Greek word Icthus—the acronym for the Greek words “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”).  

The altarpiece has three repeated symbols: the legendary pelican feeding her young with her own blood (Christ feeding us in the Eucharist); the birds (the faithful) feeding on the grapes and wheat (again the Eucharist); the peacocks feeding from the cup (the everlasting life—peacocks—given the faithful in the Eucharist).

Of course, your quick eye would spot other symbols, but these are perhaps most noticeable.  Keep looking!

Coiffure Collage

 

The old graduation photos are of constant fascination to blogger and the recent perusal of the same brought up the Graduates of Notre Dame Commercial, 1913 (all the “schools” in existence in 1913 at the 5^th Street location were part of the “Academy”).  Immediately striking in the photo was the variation in hair styles.  While some of these young ladies may have had their long hair hanging out of sight down their backs, there are obviously some with short coifs as well.  (What do you think of the visible long hair!  Envious or thankful it’s not yours?)

Now compare to the class of 1927.  The only common denominator here seems to be short.  But after all, it was during the “roar” of the ‘20s and an interesting statement of liberation from long tresses that required so much care.  Bobby pins, a variation of hairpins, were required to keep these styles, as earlier ones, in place, though.  The 1913 coif, whether long or short, no doubt required quite a few.

(Just as a side note, Wikipedia tells us that the bobby pin or bobbing pin came into use in the late 1890s with the growing popularity of the bob cut.  The Smith Victory Corp. of Buffalo took a trademark on the name for a time.  The pin is known in the U.K. as a Kirby grip, in case you travel there and need to purchase some.)

 But what do you know!  The 2010 yearbook for the academy demonstrates that hairstyles rebound.  Well, why not?  Every other style, it seems, does the same thing, doesn’t it?  Now pass the hair spray.

Tis the Season to Do Volley

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Why, yes, volleyball!   Sing the title and add “Panda, panda, go, go, go, go, go!” Now you have the spirit.

So let’s look back at one of the great seasons: 1983.  An Enquirer article with only 1983 as a date (toward the end of the season) states that, “Notre Dame has had an excellent tradition in volleyball, winning the state title in 1979 and again in 1982.  The state volleyball tournament has been sanctioned in Kentucky for only four years, and the Northern Kentucky area has won them all (including Villa Madonna in 1980, and St. Henry in 1981).  Notre Dame might just make it three out of five state titles this year.” (They did, of course.)

Another interesting passage from the same article, after noting that NDA had already defeated McAuley and Seton: “The vicory over previously undefeated O.L.A. tops them all, though.  The Pandas’ top player, Sara Dickman, was out due to illness.”  A clue to the exact date of the article appears a few sentences later: “Thursday night, they became the first girls’ team to ever win an N.K.A.C. championship in any sport by defeating Scott.”

What happened to Sara Dickman?  Toward the end of the article we find out.  “Then Dickman came to the front row (in the state tournament game) for Notre Dame and began taking charge at the net.”   No holding her down.

Stacey Meiman’s name appears at the beginning of the same article with this observation, “Tears of sadness filled Stacey Meimannn’s eyes Saturday while her Notre Dame Academy volleyball teammates celebrated their victory in the state tournament finals at Northern Kentucky University.” Then three sentences later, “’That’s because the sophomore gets to stay and this senior has to leave,’ Meimann said as a tear rolled down her cheek.”

And who was at the helm of this victory ship?  None other than Joan Mazzaro of whom Dan Weber, an Enquirer athletic columnist, observed in his July 16^th 1989 article,  “…(her) accomplishments border on legend.” In the same article Weber states that Joan Mazzaro had been at the helm of NDA athletics for 13 years.  At that point in ’89, Joan was moving on to South Carolina after leading NDA volleyball to five state championships.  Notre Dame, she claimed, had helped her through the very difficult months of her husband’s coma and subsequent death, but with deep gratitude and mixed emotions, she saw a new beginning in South Carolina.

That’s all 31 years ago!  Time does go fast when you’re on the court with the Pandas!  Panda, panda, go, go, go, go, go!!!!

P.S.  NDA had already won the state championship in 1977 and 1978 but recall that the sport was not yet acknowledged by KHSAA yet.  NDA was enjoying State Invitational status both years.

You’re a Freshman, 1930

So you are from Cincinnati (not unusual in attendance at NDA) and your parents have seen the ad in the Catholic Telegraph Register for Notre Dame Academy, right across the river on Fifth Street.  The ad looks good, just what their daughter needs!  The selling points are expressed in the Notre Dame Academy Bulletin which, upon request, your parents received in the mail.  They read in the Foreward the following:

The object of Notre Dame Academy is to train its students to realize that the end of man (sic) is the “pursuit of perfection through communion with God, his (sic) fellow-creatures and nature, by means of knowledge and conduct, of faith, hope, admiration and love.”  Its curriculum is adapted to combine breadth and training with free development of individuality in order to make its students serious, purposeful, courageous, strong Catholic women.  Religious influences are brought to bear upon the students to aid in solving the educational problems of the day.

All the needs of the students—physical, intellectual, moral—receive the attention that circumstances require.

The Course of Instruction embraces the Primary, the Intermediate, the Grammar, the Junior High, the Commercial, and the Academic Departments.

Fast forward to 2014, just 84 years later.  Much of the Foreward still rings true—that’s still what we are all about.  The last paragraph really is the only thing that places this piece in the distant past .  The Commercial school discontinued in 1934 and all sections of the grade school in 1937.  By that time the high school, the “Academic Department,” needed much more space and the surrounding Catholic grade schools welcomed NDA’s former “pupils”.

As a sort of post script, note the elaborate ND on this cover of the bulletin—very typical of the identifications used in the period.  Lovely and elegant.

Statley Sentinels Depart

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Trees.  Such magnificent things.  There’s the baobab in LITTLE PRINCE, the ”Giving  Tree”story,  Joice Kilmer ‘s poem beginning, ”I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree.”  Blogger saw some spectacular trees in California not long ago, notably eucalyptus—such grand creations.  Well, the trees we will consider here were once grand, although not in such a spectacular way.  Folks who have long been familiar with the campus as well as current students easily recall the strand of trees along the side of the building.  Planted about 50 years ago, they grew in stateliness as the years passed, providing shade to many cars parked near them and later to soccer fans.  Weather and progress have not been too kind to them, however.  Recall the ice storm that marred the beauty of so many trees a few years ago, and the draught of a few recent summers that took their toll on trees.  Even before that, the excavation for the soccer field with endless moving around of huge mounds of earth managed to expose the roots of some of the trees in the strand and generally disturbed the root systems of all of them.  Earlier still 

1963

 c. 1975

1998

was the extension of blacktop in their direction to provide for a second lane in the driveway.  And so, to make a long story mercifully short, they had reached the point of being about one fourth their fullness and health.  Last week the tree men moved in and took all of them down.  It seemed a sad end, but a necessary one that has made room now for a new strand to be planted in the fall. 

The photos show the side of the building (original front) as it looked in 1963, then the progress of the trees that were planted early on, and finally what the side of the building looks like now.  Promise lies in the future planting.  (Blogger apologizes for the blurred photos of photos.  At least the final photo taken the other day is  sharp.)